The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 17, 2005, Page 6, Image 6
Experts say basic hygiene might be best protection against flu pandemic
Officials warn that vaccines, antiviral drugs
would not be sufficient to stem virus outbreat
IDarian Uhlman
KRT CAMPUS
PHILADELPHIA — If a flu
pandemic erupts any time
soon, survival could hinge on
hygiene practices learned in
childhood.
The medical marvels that
many people think will protect
them simply may not be
obtainable, experts say.
The strongest defense —
vaccines — would be in short
supply, if available at all, said
New Jersey state
epidemiologist Dr. Eddy
Bresnitz. Antiviral drugs,
which could prevent or treat
the disease, also would be
scarce and possibly ineffective,
he said.
The best remaining option
would involve people taking
such basic precautions as
washing their hands and
covering their mouths when
they cough or sneeze, he said.
“Adhering to simple
measures may mean- the
difference between life and
death,” said Bresnitz, a New
Jersey deputy . health
commissioner, who would
help lead the state’s pandemic
response.
Public health officials are
watching anxiously a virulent
flu strain that already has
ravaged bird flocks in Asia and
sickened more than 100
people, including at least 60
who died. They fear the virus
— named H5N1 — will
mutate into a form easily
spread by people and circle the
world much like the
devastating 1918 influenza
pandemic that killed up to 50
million people.
If a pandemic started soon,
“vaccines and drugs would be a
non-issue,” said Michael
Osterholm, director of the
Center for Infectious Disease
Research and Policy at the
University of Minnesota. “We
would be in a response mode.
How do we get through the
next week or month?”
Officials would be in a mad
scramble to get enough food,
protective masks and
ventilators, among other
items, he said.
Such a dire prospect has
persuaded federal leaders to
invest more in vaccine
development and increase its
antiviral stockpile. President
Bush met with vaccine makers
last week to urge them to
increase manufacturing
capacity.
Bresnitz said such steps are
prudent, but they don’t
guarantee supplies will be
available in the near term to
help most people.
For instance, the next
generation of technology to
improve vaccine
manufacturing is not expected
for about five years. And the
government said last month it
would spend $100 million for
a vaccine targeted against the
avian strain as part of plan to
stockpile vaccine for 20
million people.
The two antiviral drugs,
which appear to be effective
against the avian flu, would
not be “the panacea” either,
Bresnitz said. They are “an
adjunct to managing the
pandemic at best.”
The supply also won’t be
adequate to give a daily dose to
healthy people to prevent
contagion, he said.
The current avian strain also
could become resistant to the
antivirals, he said. And the
drugs simply may not work
against another potential
pandemic strain.
“Nobody really knows,”
Bresnitz said.
Marla Gold, dean of Drexel
University’s School of Public
Health in Philadelphia, said
even if the antivirals turn out
to be a “Band-Aid,” they will
stop some of the bleeding.
“We are talking about
buying time in case of a
disaster,” she said. Propelled by
the avian fear, about 40
nations have placed orders for
Tamiflu made by Roche,
including 14.6 million
treatments for Great Britain
and 13 million treatments for
France.
By year’s end, the United
States will have enough
Tamiflu in its stockpile to treat
about 5 million people, a
company official said. Roche
plans to add to that supply and
start making the drug in the
United States this year.
U.S. officials recently have
announced a plan to purchase
enough antivirals to treat at
least 20 million people. Dr.
Ben Schwartz, senior science
adviser with the National
Vaccine Program Office, said it
is not the last order.
The U.S. government also
has a contract with
GlaxoSmithKline for 84,000
treatments of Relenza, the
other antiviral that appears to
work against the avian strain.
David Pernock, GSK senior
vice president for U.S.
pharmaceuticals, said his
company also is “making
necessary investments in plants
to ramp up.” In all, the
company plans to make a $2
billion investment in antivirals
and flu vaccine over the next
three years, a spokesperson
said.
The role of antivirals would
be an “important component”
of the nation’s response,
especially if vaccines were in
short supply, Schwartz said.
Infection control and quality
medical care are also part of
the government’s four-pronged
pandemic strategy. They
would be the “mainstays of a
pandemic response” until
pharmaceutical interventions
are more widely available,
Schwartz said.
In all the talk about
pandemic preparations,
Bresnitz said, a greater
emphasis needs to be placed on
the basic infection control
practices everyone can follow.
Because flu viruses spread
through the ai,r and direct
contact, Bresnitz said they can
be thwarted through such steps "
as washing hands, shunning
crowded places, staying home
from work and school,
avoiding dirty tissues and
covering the nose or mouth
when coughing or sneezing.
Health professionals also
need to pay more attention to
basic hygiene, he said. For
example, they should set up
separate waiting rooms in their
offices and hospitals to keep
the sick away from the healthy.
“No one believes that once
you have a pandemic you will
be able to eliminate it,” _
Bresnitz said. “It is a matter of "
reducing your risk.”
M. Spencer Green / Associated Press
Darrvelle Levin draws a dose of flu vaccine Friday as Chicago senior citizens line up for free flu shots. A spokesperson said 4,000 shots
provided by the Cook County Bureau of Health were available and nearly all of them were expected to be given out, partly because of a
heavy turnout fueled by anxiety from last year’s flu shot shortage.
0k ^
Sydney - Melbourne - Brisbane]
$1085 Roundtrip! W
(OR fiy in to one city and out of another!)*!
Fares are reeaitrtp free ATI. A sabjeet te change. Taxes are lUttieial.'
Space won't last...Don‘t Wait!
initfbeip ibeieab t jubb Irfire lilt uibk bki Travel SOTS^
ISTOAVELOUTS^ 8..-592-cuts(J»87)
Q,4>/\frjd*L
AN HISTORIC RESIDENCE
Efficiency $550
One Bedroom $610
Two Bedroom $645
Rent includes all utilities and cable TV.
All rates quoted are month to month.
(Leases available, prices subject to change)
Located across from the
University of South Carolina Horseshoe
and the State Capital, Cornell Arms
offers the premier location for
downtown living.
(803) 799-1442
1230 PENDLETON STREET
COLUMBIA, SC 29201 )))
CELL PHOne • CODTinilED FROm 5
his only cell phone. Misurell
was among the 60 percent of
students handed a Rave phone
who switched to Sprint-Nextel
from the carrier they had
before coming to school.
For freshmen such as
Misurell, the school has
thrown in a modest allotment
of voice minutes for his
personal use. Students can
sign up for more generous
voice or data plans at an extra
cost.
Desai said he is in talks with
other wireless carriers that
might want to offer the Rave
service over their networks.
In many ways, Rave’s system
is simply a Web community
accessed by cell phone.
Students can set up their
own “channels” or ask
Montclair State to set one up
(the school asks Rave for help
if needed). They can receive as
many channels as they wish.
Any text or photos posted on
that channel — by fellow
students or the university — is
then automatically sent to a
students phone. A channel
can be updated from a
computer or from a Rave
phone.
On Sept. 19, a posting went
out just before 10 p.m. to 911
students who subscribed to
the school’s “Fall Frenzy”
channel: “Hey, you’re missing
the meet the Greeks event in
the student center!”
Another channel was
created recently for a one-day
recreation trip to Philadelphia.
Those who signed up received
messages about where to meet
for the bus and when a trip
photo would be taken.
Susan A. Cole, Montclair
State’s president, said one
reason to offer the cell phone
as a communications device
was to pull the students into
the social fabric of the school.
“This doesn’t substitute for
the heart and soul of the
university,” said Cole, holding
up a Rave phone in her office
on a recent morning. But she
predicted that teachers will
find new ways to connect to
their students using the Rave
system.
So far, that academic
connection courtesy of Rave
hasn’t exactly taken off — but
it’s still early.
Students can use the phones
to check their e-mail, tap into
the school’s Internet-based
class schedules and
assignments and check on
things like sports team
practice times.
Popular channels include
local weather, local movie
times, a daily celebrity photo
and information on cultural
and music events in New York
City.
There’s a channel dubbed
“Bored in the dorms,” another
where someone posts a daily
picture of a flower and New
Jersey Transit schedules.
Future channels include a
safety feature that will better
connect students and campus
police, New York City subway
and bus information and ride
sharing information.
Desai said Rave makes sure
the data flowing to its phone
system can be displayed
quickly. That means photos
and graphics files are limited
in size.
In a trial conducted with 80
students over the summer,
Desai said just more than half
used it daily. And up to 80
percent used it once every
three days.
That response exceeded
Desai’s expectations. “We
thought they might keep (the
phones) in a drawer for a
while,” he said.
Campuses have long been a
testing ground for technology
and education experiments;
Duke University, for example, "
gave its freshmen iPods last
year.
If the Montclair State
students are any measure,
Rave’s targeted use of cell
phone technology — kind of a
portable, real-time
information kiosk — could
take off.
Cole has no doubt that it
will.
“I think you’ll see this on
campuses from coast to coast,”
she said. *
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeaturcs@gwm. sc. edu
Nobody covers USC better. Nobody.
__ -